Vietnam fertility rate down: Government

HCM City (VNA) - Vietnam’s fertility rate has declined from 6.4 to 2.1 children per
woman over the last 55 years, but the rate varies widely among provinces,
according to the General Department of Population and Family Planning.

The rate in HCM City is
1.45, while the southeastern province of Binh Duong has a rate of 1.7.

The Central Highlands
province of Kon Tum has a fertility rate of 3.45 and the northern province of
Ha Giang 3.08, according to Le Canh Nhac, the department’s deputy head.

Nhac spoke at a meeting
in HCM City on December 16 to celebrate 55 years of the national population and
family planning programme.

Nhac called the low
fertility rate of HCM City “alarming”, saying that families in the city should
be encouraged to have two children.

“This low rate will not
ensure human resources in the future, and will reduce the so-called golden
population and add to the aging population. This will influence the city’s
socio-economic development,” he added.

On the other hand,
provinces with a fertility rate higher than the country’s average of 2.1 should
reduce the number of children born to each family, he said.

Nhac said the country
still faced sex imbalances at birth.

In the first 11 months
of the year, the ratio nationwide was 109 boys per 100 girls, while the ratio
in the same period last year was 112 boys per 100 girls.

Of the provinces and
cities in the country, HCM City performed the best, with a ratio of 103-106
boys per 100 girls.

More services for
pre-natal and newborn screening will be expanded throughout the country to
improve the health of the population, Nhac said.

Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy
head of HCM City’s Department of Health, said the planning, which was designed
by HCM City authorities, was prompted by the large number of migrants who move
to the city.-VNA